An Editorial Opinion of The Luverne Journal

This week in 1954, Crenshaw County leaders planned an investment to impact citizens for generations to come. The Luverne Library Board of Directors announced a public library would open soon and more than 70 years later, those efforts are still shining vibrantly and providing programs for local children.

On Saturday, the library hosted one of its many annual events, a visit with the Easter Bunny. Many guests, like three-year-old Caroline Hughes, have attended the festive event every year since birth. Hughes, like dozens of other children, enjoyed the event’s butterfly release, Easter-themed crafts, sweet treats and an opportunity to skip merrily down the painted caterpillar just outside the library’s entry way.

The library began, like many rural facilities of its kind, through book mobile efforts. Books donated by the Crenshaw-Covington Bookmobile program were made available in space upstairs in the Crenshaw County Courthouse, by permission of then-Judge F. B. Lloyd with staff salaries funded by the City of Luverne.

Now housed in its own facility, the Luverne Public Library provides a variety of programs — summer reading, Read Across America, Movie Day, Craft Day, visits with Santa and a host of others. The library also is host to the Word Nerds Book Club, 4-H and other local programs that use library space at no cost to hold their meetings.

In some rural areas of America, early literacy efforts included librarians who rode horses or mules into the Appalachian Mountains to get books into the hands of would-be readers. Bookmobile programs and later brick-and-mortor buildings supported literacy programs in areas like Crenshaw County, where local leaders recognized the importance of getting books into the hands of everyone. These men and women undertook that without the ability to read, many, and often the poorest citizens, are locked out of so many opportunities which might otherwise be available to them.

We applaud those who worked 71 years ago to secure a local library for people in Luverne and the surrounding area. They, like the leaders in place today, ensured that little Caroline, her mother and grandmother, as well as all those who visit the Luverne Public Library, enjoy a host of activities aimed at encouraging literacy.

We extend a warm and heartfelt thanks to Library Director Kathryn Tomlin and her staff, who facilitate all the library programs area citizens enjoy.